If you’re travelling through San Francisco Airport in California anytime soon and have at least a few hours in a stopover, chances are you’ll have enough time to head to the nearby In-N-Out Burger. Which, in my humble opinion, remains the best burger under $5 in the world. So how can you fit it in?
After you leave customs/baggage collection, follow the signs to the trains. If you’re coming from Australia, and you’re connecting to another flight, you would have likely dropped your bag off for another flight before this point, too. These signs will eventually take you to BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit).
You need to use the Clipper card to travel on the BART, but as luck would have it, to get a Clipper card, all you have to do is go into your Google or Apple Wallet, click add card, and then search for Clipper. You’ll be able to set it up automatically through your phone. And then you just need to put enough cash on the card to cover a $5.20 trip each way (prices just rose to that amount on January 1st).
You only need to take the train one stop, to Millbrae. It takes but five minutes to get there.
Make sure you exit through the Gateway at Millbrae Station shopping mall, and from there it’s a less than 5 minute walk to the In-N-Out burger. They’re generally open from 10.30am to 1am, though I arrived at 10.15am and they had already started operating.
To get back, just reverse the process.
The whole round trip took me about 45 minutes. And that was allowing myself time to sit down and eat the burgers – you could of course take them to go if you’re in more of a rush. You could also Uber it there and back, but there’s extra cost and hassle in that option – the BART makes it so easy.
There’s some great boutique accommodation here in Millbrae too – like the incredible Dylan Hotel. Something to keep in mind should you be after some accommodation near the airport.
And there you have it! The quick and easy way to get yourself one of the world’s best fast food burgers, all before boarding your flight at SFO. Oh and look out for the Wag Brigade while you’re in the airport… honestly every airport should have a troupe of dogs (and pigs and bunnies?) to entertain tired passengers.
This particular In-N-Out Burger is located at 11 Rollins Rd, Millbrae, CA 94030, United States. Find more locations at their official website.
Photos by Larry Heath.
